A retrospective study of multicentric bovine renal cell tumors

Tissues from twenty mature cows with primary renal cell tumors were submitted over an 11-year period because of gross lesions detected during routine slaughter and inspection. Tumors visualized grossly were multiple and bilateral in seven cattle, multiple within one kidney in four cattle, and solitary in nine cattle. The tumors were primarily cortical, yellow-orange to tan, proliferative, well circumscribed, and extended above the capsular surface of the kidney. Tumors were microscopically multiple even when grossly described as solitary lesions, except in one cow. Twelve tumors (60%) were microscopically multiple in one kidney, seven tumors (35%) were multiple and bilateral, and only one cow (5%) exhibited extrarenal metastasis. Tumors from nineteen cows were composed of eosinophilic granular epithelial cells; tumors from one cow were clear cell type. Each tumor contained several histologic patterns. Corpora amylacea, proteinaceous secretions, and hemosiderin were characteristic findings in bovine renal cell carcinoma. All 20 cows with renal cell tumors exhibited positive immunoreactivity to uromodulin (Tamm-Horsfall protein).